If this is global warming, give me the Ice Age

If global warming is indeed giving Britain wetter winters and hotter summers, then I wish we didn't have such a big electricity bill. I don't ever remember the lane where we live being quite so wet and rutted; today there was an actual rivulet of water streaming down the side of the path, with the chickens crossly wading through it, not at all wishing they were ducks. The floors are covered with mud that the dogs bring in, and I just can't get around to cleaning them properly, because I know it's all going to be just as bad again tomorrow. The days are getting a little longer, and there are daffodils on the grass verges, just beginning to flower in the more sheltered places, now, but if it weren't for these rays of hope it would seem as if this rain and grey misery were going to go on for ever and ever and ever.
Still. Yesterday I bit the bullet and ordered a harp. I have wanted to play the harp ever since a harpist visited school, when I was about ten, and I was instantly smitten. Last spring, I began renting one, and have been having lessons, intermittently, ever since. I think it's safe to say that I am more or less devoid of any talent, and almost totally devoid of a sense of rhythm, but I find it enormously relaxing and cathartic to play, and at least it's drug-free and harmless. So John very kindly said I could have one of my own (they are very, very expensive) and I went and chose what I want, yesterday. It's going to be my very own, made from maple wood, with carved leaves on it, exactly as I've chosen. It should be about six weeks in the making. Scarey, but exciting. And if it all goes horribly wrong, they hold their value very well, so we can always sell it again. ..